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Mission/Quest
Sitemap --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Mission/Quest --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- * See Also Procedural Generation Tasks for the Player to undertake, usually pre-canned by the game designers, usually with someone (a quest giver) to start it, some goals to achieve, and then some rewards for completion. In this MMORPG many of the Mission/Quests would be at least partially generated 'on-the-fly' programatically to vary their content and to fit the local situation (or even to be unique via combinatorics). --- "There are forty thousand stories in Rapture City; this has been one of them" ''': From the Noir Movies, ie- 'Naked City' --- --- --- --- --- '''Superior Mission Design : In other MMORPG games, where if you are an explorer and move about the terrain without first having the 'canned' Mission activated, you see the places and the few interesting props lying about, but they mostly are things which might as well be inert rocks for all their interactivity - they don't activate, the door says "You don't have the required Quest", or you can walk through them. Another situation : If you step off the 'magic path', and miss one of the placed event 'Triggers', then the Mission execution is screwed up and the planned 'quest' sequence doesn't execute properly (gets stuck). For this MMORPG, things have to be better designed than that. --- --- --- Missions(Quests) TYPES : * Short Missions (ones you can do if you have 15 minutes to play) * Long Missions (ones that turn into an Expedition and might take several playing sessions) * Progressive (multi part) Missions * Easy Missions (and Very Easy Missions) * Hard Missions (and Very Hard Missions) * Fun/Humorous Missions * Missions which are Progressive (increasing difficulty but with greater rewards as you go) * Missions to earn skills, abilities or 'stuff', or Formulas for Fabrication * Missions to gain Reputation (Societal, Official, Prestige, Commercial) * Missions to Learn the Backstory (need to be extravaganza so that merely "Looking It Up On Internet" isnt nearly as good). * Missions to advance New Rapture A variety to allow for different/flexible Player styles/intentions, Some Missions have chance for Player to regroup and retry them when failed. Many are of limited duration/deadline (and shouldn't be part of a long list of pending missions) Mission scenarios shouldn't be a static set which every one of the 100000s Players ALL do exactly the same. Have enough re-combinations to not have them repeat very much. Missions which the Player creates/initiates for OTHER Players ??? (I need X, so post a Mission for another Player to get it - 'Let Out a Contract'). Additional Missions and variations being added as Creators create them (after vetting/publishing of course). --- --- --- That Mission Was Fun ... : ''' One thing I remember from GTA (San Andreas) was a limited 'Save' list and not being able to LATER revisit interesting/Fun Missions, which generally were more challenging than most the 'Sand-Box' activities. In this MMORPG there will be alot (multitudes) more Missions available (one of the issues in GTA was there should have been 3X as many of those), so if alot (As in total number) of them are 'Fun' then there wouldn't be the need to revisit/repeat them as much. Some Missions based on City Roles are 'repeatables' / routine - though would have changing Randomized details to make each replay somewhat different/surprising (a basic game feature is to give each Player something different than the same 'canned' choreographed/regurgitated 'Quest' played by 100000+ other Players). Another avenue would be making ordinary 'Sand-Box activities just as interesting/challenging as quests/missions. That can be hard, as choreographed quests can set up very special circumstances and guide the player through carefully crafted (cohesive) situations and explanations/details (more depth). --- --- --- '''Reuseable Scenes For Mission Scenarios : Used for generic situations making use of non-customized building blocks. Places where 'the story' is the center of the scenario. Lots of parts of Rapture DID look the same (were systematically prefabricated on the surface). Templates allow meaningful randomization of secondary details/props to vary the look (maybe some Tasty Loot if you get a chance to loot *AFTER* the conversation with the Mission NPC is over). Use of Self-adapting Assemblage Templates of specific sets of props (appropriately placed) is important to set the desired 'generic' scene. There can be Points earned by Mission Creators who make use of commonly used Assets (There are still download delays for new Assets which you (the Player) prefer to be minimized, and many have changeable details/subpart combinations that can make them significantly different looking anyway). The cliche 'Tavern' would be a generic small New Rapture Bar (Is there actually more than one ?????). Another is : The Street Corner - "Psssst. Hey Buddy, You wanna buy a map to a Salvageable Bathysphere ??" And : City Hall Office : "We have Information about where Fontaine's Secret Basement Vault is, and we would like you to investigate ..." (Remember Renaldo and The Capone's Secret Vault Fiasco ??) --- --- --- Spectrum of Partial Success for Player's Quest/Missions : Break the Players out of the fossilized concept of a static unitized Quest (Where they expect to get the +3 Hat of Stultification, or somesuch - the same as 100000 players ahead of them, and can look up the solution online or out of a guide book). Goals should be broader, opportunities more varied/randomized (and possibly differentiating by Players own goals AND tuned somewhat to their abilities). Let THE PLAYER select from several possible sub-goals (choice of paths to the Quest's goal) - their discovering a preferred strategy should be part of the richness of this game mechanism. (I remember Far Cry and how the Player in many situations had MANY options in how they could approach achieving the mission goals they were give). Breaking the overall 'Quest' into separate parts which can be achieved in sequence (break points if their alotted playing time is of limited duration). Quests with escalating difficulties of results, where THE PLAYER may decide when they want to "break off from it"/finish. Is it a bad thing if the Player gets distracted by something interesting along the way to a Quest ?? --- --- --- Player Creativity to be Exercised : Missions should have multiple ways of solving them (especially for things with 'riddles' and such ) They (most missions) should not be so narrowly difficult as to be closed to many people. Players should be able to use their cleverness (or even Brute Force and Endurance) to overcome many problems. Getting 'stuck' frequently is the sign of a game being too limiting Moronic when its a game with save points and the difficult part requires 5 minutes to get to through mind-numbing activity before the hard part being attempted again. Conversely, being too easily winnable most of the time is also to be avoided. Partial results would often be another feature of the Missions. Some missions might have limited reattempts when they are 'skill' based. The randomization features would prevent/limit the 'Just Look Up the Solution' problem. --- --- --- How Obvious Should Game Quest/Mission Clues Be ? : Allow less-than-fully-immersed (casual) Players to get their easy goal achievement, and some loot, and head off to their next Quest. Such a Mission solution, and its rewards, might not matter much if they are somewhat fixed/static/non-randomized (being simpler to program/choreograph IF they are static like the typical MMORPG -- Subject to people just looking up their answers/solution on the Internet). Then there could/might be 'Advanced' Mission aspects : To have more obscure clues leading to additional opportunities, with correspondingly greater efforts and challenge required. These would be randomized/scrambled/optionally present/requiring use of Skills (and cleverness) -- and PREVENTING "Just looked up on Internet" to solve them. The MMORPGs Auto-Generation 'on-the-fly' Scenario Creation Mechanism (SCM) can allow a great range of possibilities (requiring more creative work/skill of course to create them properly). Such 'Extras' (Challenges) would/should probably be fairly quickly known/discernible to NOT be solvable by the Player, or to be Risky, or of too much Difficulty/Challenge. They should generally give the Player One Chance?effort to succeed (Can't just try over and over again ad nauseum). --- --- --- Rapture Repairs (Various Tasks that Players May Get as 'Missions' to Assist The City) : ' Rapture's overbuilding engineering margins 600% and redundancy kept things together long enough to allow repairs (versus catastrophic failure and instant death). A good candidate for 'recurring' Quests/Missions, as Rapture needs alot of repairs and normal maintenance is constantly required. Replacements : * Heavy equipment needed for some repairs (sections of buildings cleared of things adverse to salt water, flooded so that water-tight sections can be repaired by rebuilding a whole wall) * Pouring masses of Reinforced Concrete * Doors and airlock systems - mechanical reliability and safety operation * Cosmetic restoration - wall panels, windows, etc.. Patching : * Welding * Riveting * Nuts and Bolts * Sealing * Epoxy (invented 1927) used for pipe patching repairs .... * Assembling and restoring - holes in walls/ceiling/floors * Includes tearing out cosmetic material to make repairs of thing in walls Some of the main heating pipes (hot water from Hephaestus used for environmental heating) are large enough for men to walk in (and they are subject to abrasive wear and corrosion) Maintenance of environmental and utility systems : * Component adjustment and servicing * Component replacement (including pipes and wires) * Cleaning/clearing --- --- --- '''Manic Magpie Filler (Looting/Scrounging) ' : Easy enough to add to any Mission scenario some generic/location-appropriate Lootpiles to investigate and sort through. Instead of only the 'containers', there should be actual visible piles of items jumbled together and obscured/covered-by dirt/crap/water/rubble. Likewise there could be Sub-Missions of "Find N of the X Objects" (preferably having something to do with the Mission's theme). Lots of odd items from which the Player has to decide if they are worth keeping (within the game's limited inventory space and encumbrance). Since this MMORPG allows for items to actually be placed on the ground, good stuff might be piled for the return trip, when nothing better might be taking up space (you also don't want to be encumbered if you still have to face the 'baddies'...). There should be stuff in every corner, possibly well picked over already or sometimes left pristine since Rapture's dark days came (usually if in a closed off location). Many goodies should NOT be TOO obscured, so that the Player with experience, can tell whether there is likely to be anything of worth WITHOUT actually starting to dig into the trash (a tedium limit). Team NPC's can be counted on to pocket various goodies they come upon (and an order/directive/goals mechanism would allow the Player to give guidelines to what is preferred to be obtained). Various mementos of Missions would be a likely thing to include. --- --- --- '''More Quest Ideas : * Big Daddy Depot - central parts storage/repair center (separate from the Daddy servicing facilities). Not a 'training' or 'conversion' facility. Some 'non-Splicers still service the Big Daddies (may have to come pick them up when one has a severe malfunction) and were protected by them . Quest to find the Big Daddy Depot -- the problem is the old records only lead to an old location and it has been moved several times since then. The Thinker probably knows where it is, but isn't telling. * Splicers take Hostages from City (trying to extort supplies) Player has to rescue (preferably without getting hostages killed, which might demand use of less 'normal' tactics (stealth and cleverness). * Ships Sunk Near Rapture : ** ( http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:BioShock_2_Public_Address_Announcements -- "Mary: Did you hear, Jim? All the talk about ships from the surface sinking near Rapture — do you think there's something to it? " ** Missions/Quests to investigate and salvage those ships that disappeared in the 'Frozen Triangle' ** Some were smuggler ships (destroyed by Ryan's security force) still containing their cargo. ** Treasure hunt to one of the many 'sunk' ships that disappeared into the 'Dead Spot' (Frozen Triangle) near Rapture. ** Lots of perils, maze like interiors, unfriendly sealife, limited time (cliche of ship sliding off edge of precipice)?? * Quest (in form of an amusing mini-game) (Suggested by Demitasse in the Forum) " ... should take place from the perspective of a ADAM sea slug named Socrates as you try to rescue your other sea slug friends after being captured by Rapture scientists. The gameplay will be that of a platform/RPG, you'll explore the depths of the sea, avoid hot thermal vents and dangerous creatures of the deep, eventually making it into Rapture and killing all who stand in your way by employing traps(???). There will be a plot twist, where you'll be implanted into a Little Sister where you'll then use a mind control Plasmid to play as her for the duration of the game. ... " * Create a TV/Radio commercial for your 'business' (for Player's shop or company) -- could have someone else create it for you... Submissions to the Collaboration Community for 'favorites' (good way to get ideas circulated -- "Hey, I Didn't Know You Could Do That!!" ..... Extra Brownie Points for creating a Tutorial of how you did it using the game tools...). With TV and Radio channels to fill with content, we can always use more amusing/creative ads. * Scheme to use 'fake' ADAM Vials as a 'lure' to capture Splicers (unfortunately most Splicers didn't survive this long by being 'stupid'). EVE is more common so isn't quite as much of a 'draw' as ADAM is. I suppose you could use Real ADAM as bait too, that is if you can afford/find any. Big Bounties are paid for 'undamaged' Splicers. * SssssSplicer -- How much splicing does it take to start looking like a snake ?? Something strange was reported in the Sewers.... * Investigating 'lost' freight shipments : ** A job for one of the insurance companies (they are like roaches and just wont die) or the City Council. ** Going 'undercover' and driving an Atlantic Express freight train (or the freight Trolleys) and doing switching at various locations in the City (one more interesting thing to do and to see something (important yet mundane) you normally wouldn't in Rapture). ** Mysterious disappearing freight cars, etc... * The Treasure Room -- a malfunction in the Jet Postal system soon after the Civil War started, resulted in a significant number of Pneumo packages being sent to Postal Box 0000 which was in a test room in an abandoned Ryan Industries manufacturing facility. Several hundred capsule packages were lost before the defect was identified, but the errant destination was never found/traced. Who knows what might be in all those packages??? In the quest, you hear a rumor and follow a trail off into the wastelands seeking the jackpot. (Unlike the typical MMORPG mission the outcome is not certain and not certain to be good). * Consider - Gil Alexander's corpse could be a huge supply of ADAM ... And its just sitting there (marinating) and Sofia Lamb/Delta are gone... All that ADAM really needs to be kept out of the Splicers hands. Did Delta kill him ?? Did Delta think he killed him ??? Gil might not be quite so dead ??? * The Atlantic Express Grand Central station (from which the trains out to the supporting "Towns" outside of Rapture departed) recently has had debris from the 1959 damage cleared and was unsealed. Hundreds of key-lockers still containing items from that time are now accessible. The City is selling tickets for the rights to pick a locker and receive the contents -- the Great Lost Treasure hunt/lottery. Who knows what kind of things are to be found in these long lost lockers ? * The Jet Postal Lost-n-Found has been reached and unsealed. All kinds of odd 'lost' (lost send address 'tag' and no return address) items were stored there and never claimed. Certain Splicers have also learned of the Warehouse being 'found' and also have an interest in its contents. * The S-Team - a group of 4 Splicers who work together and terrorize the outskirts of New Rapture. They work 'for hire' for other Splicers to fight the City which is encroaching on various Splicer factions' territory. Their tactics and organization and unusual equipment make them a hazard for any inexperienced group of Citizens. XXXX MARK XXXXX * Form a amateur baseball team (good ole American tradition) Game mechanics for playing a game will be fully possible (create later as a "Player Created Asset" all the usual actions/mechanism for that 'big' mini-game). A small field would be likely located near to City Center as part of the 'normal' city they want to portray). Football requires more equipment and larger facilities, but could be done later if desired (at least the ruins of the stadium will be there to have a 'ghost' story of the tragic 'big game' presented). * The Sinker - the work platform initially used to start construction on Rapture (used to ferry supplies, then 'permanently moored to the seafloor and began sinking iron girders hundreds of feet into the sediment and bedrock..." -- seen in the history exhibit in Ryan Amusements. Quest to locate and salvage this 'historic' structure for the planned 'New Rapture' History Park (this would be placed in the Ocean (water display) portion of the park). * Splicers Anonymous - meetings and support activities for those who still fight the "Urge to Splice". Field trips to the 'Clinic' to remind the members what being a "Splicer" was. "Here is your brain on ADAM....", "ADAM is Bad", "Just don't do ADAM" and that old "Splicing Madness" film... * Splicers in diving suits trying to break into the City thru one of the airlocks (possibly using the 'soft' suits if they have 'depth' Plasmids or Tonics). Some Splicers have access to submarines also and may try to get in via one of the submarine docking ports. It would be a general 'event' with a sounded alert for all players to come assist the City Security in countering the break-in/attack. * The Frozen Triangle -- http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/The_Frozen_Triangle -- nothing says the game's horizons end at the edge of the Volcano... Alot goes on out there in the sea. Does something else lurk out there now?? --- * City Expedition to survey the Lighthouse for Demolition (with findings of interesting little known details about that mysterious structure) : ** The Blimp mooring mast (and Patrol Blimp) that was abandoned fairly quickly after the Ocean winds were found to be too violent for normal operation). Remains of the Blimp are stored in the "Submarine Yards". ** Radio jamming station (used to block distress calls when a boat/ship came 'too close') ** Weather Station (much used in the early days before Ryan stopped most shipments in to Rapture). ** City Air Intakes (City wants to retain this feature, somehow) ** Patrol Boat Dock and shelter ** Evidence of the camouflage paint scheme someone tried as a 'cheap' attempt to make the Lighthouse harder to see (the latex paint did not stand up to the weather too long it seems). ** Surveillance Cameras and Gun Turrets ** Shore-to-Ship signalling system (signal lights, no radio) * Submarine Refueling station (fish are generally found near the surface and it is wasteful to have to descend 600 feet everytime the subs had to refuel). ** The Bathysphere Station Camouflage/Hiding system (so any visitors might only think the LightHouse was the work of a madman/eccentric and not actually an entrance to an undersea city). ** Do estimates for making a 'submergable' LightHouse replacement (New Rapture reestablished contact with Ryan's surface organization and still needs some of the critical materials being brought in by boat). ** Some of the odd things that Lamb had placed on the structure (more slogans about "Banishment of the Self" and her other psychotic blatherings...) ** Remains of the Torpedo Tubes firing the 'intelligent' torpedoes (based on Flybot control systems) used to 'nullify' ships that discovered Rapture's location. --- * A trip down into the Abyss - a mission to gather/discover some bioluminescent materials (the most interesting varieties are down in the Abyss). A whole 'nuther' alien environment to explore and mysteries to plumb. Diving Hard Suit required.... * Greenbeard the Pirate - all the pirate activity is bringing more and more attention to the area around Rapture (including those stupid 'in-search-of mystery' hacks. The City has decided to take strong action to try to eliminate the Splicer pirates who are causing most of the trouble. * Investigation into the unusual (unusual??? ... this IS Rapture ) circumstances of Ryan's death and the mysterious disappearance of his body: ** Odd events around that time (Jack and Atlas/Fontaine) *** the 'self destruct' ** Rumors of Ryan being alive (and allegedly being seen buying coffee in the Bistro) ** Lamb destroying/covering up evidence of accounts of those times ** Strange messages being sent to some of Ryan's old supporters (not everyone is an Ex-Splicer who lost most of their memories). * Weird 'Parallel universe' episode (dream?) of what Rapture became as 'evil' Jack took control of the city ** Jack never left (that sub sank into the Abyss and the nuclear weapons are out of reach) ** Elimination of Sofia Lamb, when she crawled out of the woodwork (Drill in the face just like Suchong). ** Near death of Jack from a 'childhood' disease. ** Rapture's "new age" comes -- but this isn't his "father's" Rapture. ** Player has to stop eating that spicy food before going to sleep.... * 'Crime Boss' quests - various criminal activities done in a NPCs spare time. Work your way up the criminal food chain thru performing "crimes"... ** Hack the Vending Machine or Restroom Stall Coin-box. ** Safe cracker ** Grand Theft Submarine ** Burglary (watch out for those security devices) ** Smuggling run (hijacking a smugglers shipment -- sides of prime beef, etc.... ) ** Hitman ??? a rival crime boss (NPC) --- --- --- Player Mission Actions - Add some Complexity : A system with a progressive (increasing difficulty) gamble payout (like those Las Vegas Slot machines) where a progression of actions/goals reached (the Player decides when to go further or stop) can lead to a much better result, but with the risk of being interrupted/disrupted and losing all gains (And Player can do further secondary actions/preparations involved to anticipate the increased difficulty - if they intend such). (Important that the player knows of the risk...). * Unpredictable results/surprise (hated by 'Bean Counter' type Players) can increase Player interest (particularly with fancy optional visuals ???) A gamble/decision point -- With Consequences (which have to be made obvious much of the time, for Players to make their decision). * The Player has the choice to do things simple/basic (with more certainty), or more complicated (with more risk/unknowns, but potentailly better reward). Creation Standards requiring balancing scenarios between those paths to prevent loopholes/malfunction, which will probably be a chore/difficulty to achieve. * Ex- The room is filling up rapidly and you can easily grab one thing and get out, or you can try for more loot, but face getting trapped and abandoning all your goodies to get out alive, or injured or whatever. * You don't get 'do overs' as there are in most MMORPG. Makes the risk more real. --- --- --- Competition Quests : * Something that can be scored (posted Online so Players can compare themselves to other Players). The involved quest(s) would have to be easily 'joined' by Players. Possibly some with limited contests with scoring at the end of the submission time-period. Likewise for Mini-Games - similar 'scoring' (score boards) * Different levels of difficulty (recognizing broad category of Player character development) and fixed play time limit (separate score boards per 'scenario') * Cant/wont be cheated at (various encoding tricks that make it not worth the 'cheaters' time.) The particular Quests should be made so there is no opportunity/incentive for competitive Players to steal in-game opportunities from their Player opponents to assist in 'winning' (Instancing only ??) I suppose you can also have the same kind of Solo 'Achievements' (of all flavors) like we had in the previous Solo games. With a multi-Player game you can have the usual in-game trophies (or maybe better than 'usual') and some Basic recognition in the City Community (NPC reactions or somesuch)?? --- --- --- Preventing Mission Solutions/Solving Compromised Via "Just Look It Up On the Internet" ' : The randomizing of details and scrambling of locations, NPC names, loot, opponents, puzzles, props and such will help alot. Using Auto-Generation. The usual Quest/Mission Giver WONT always be standing there (in the same place) nor offering the same Mission. That makes it hard to initiate any pre-identified 'Good' Mission (good Missions made by a particular author or with particularly good loot). If there is no Handy Name to reference the Mission by, that helps prevent Players 'Writing It Up' Online, for other Players then being able to Search and look up info about it (even when other randomizations aren't as thorough). Part of the games mechanism is TO GIVE the Creating Player credit for their work/effort/imagination. So THAT (just 'look it up' static nature) needs some way to be blocked from identifying Missions via Author. --- --- --- '''City Mission - Accu-Vox Recovery : ' Players submit 'Found' data items, turning them in for 'Vouchers' for Research time (for mission/skill advancement) - including Accu-Vox mechanisms, no matter how garbled or in what condition (parts useful to repair other machines at worst). And one of the City Missions is to take one of these damaged Accu-Vox machines and to 'recover' any recording content for the City Archives. Players no doubt will find them. * Cleaning - some of them have been in rather bad environmental conditions for a decade. * Mechanical/Electrics Repairs to the machine, including replacing 'salvaged' parts * Removal of Media to a working unit * Recovering of recorded-over content (requires some skill and better tools) Players might prefer to do this fix-up operation BEFORE handing them over to the City, to be able to take advantage of any potentially profitable information on them. MMORPG could have hundreds of different 'recordings' for Players to 'find' (and accumulate more as it is basically an audio recording that even a smartphone can generate these days). Content obviously would be vetted ... Player creativity employed to generate amusing content or filler info for Rapture's Story. - '''Note - for Logic's sake I would have the 'Accu-Vox no longer be a 6" X 10" brick-like machine, but some kind of removable media (like a sleeved magnetic metal disk) used by the ONE machine a person would have (or even with public recording booths). That way many cheaper recordings of 'thoughts' could be made inexpensively (better than strangely justifying every vagrant in the city somehow having these things), and slipped them into the Pneumo as an alternate to letters (justifying why we find them everywhere ...). A possible In-Game 'personal' voice message to be sent to another player or to be kept. --- --- --- Another Mission Variation - Blind Pathfind : Dark/obscured situation - You hear sound effects that give you clues to which is the right way, but you are in total darkness. You had basic clues as to which sounds (previously heard or mentioned in script) indicate your progress, and then sound effects of what you are feeling your way through (or things run into). Along with some odd undiscernable sounds thrown in. More fun is lashing out in the dark at something you can hear moving around you (or something suddenly being detected or biting you). Faint streaks of bioluminescent algae/mold might be seen in places, but in general most everything is totally dark (and doesn't allow the 'turn up the brighness' on the monitor/screen to avoid the intended situational difficulty). --- --- --- Building the Missionz (The Player Creation Aspect) -- AN EXAMPLE OF A GAME WITH ''' : Neverwinter Nights (a computer game) long ago had a Multiplayer mode - Player run Servers for upto 64 players simultaneously (but really ran only upto 32 effectively ), and an Editing system (tools) to build level maps (to be on each Server's 'World'). A few Players figured out (within the abominable limitations and feeble company programming support) how to "Save" a Player's character state (data) to transfer that Player between associated Servers (to allow bigger Player run 'Worlds', run with there 'level' sections on separate maps on separate Server machines). You got an Editor (with a 'wizard' based interface) that used and stitched together predefined chunks of terrain from a published set (they later published additional Player-created terrain 'library' sets ) and allowed free placement of props within that terrain, and then placement of Adversary (NPC) Objects, and then some Scripting (rather slow running code) to do activations/respawns and various interesting interactive things (including mission type definition logic). Portals could link/jump between a World's submaps. Some tools created "Dialog Trees" to facilitate semi-intelligent menu type Player interactions with NPCs (they could have logic and scripting embedded within the 'Dialog' tree that changed the tree's optional branches, depending on game/char factors). The NPC Adversaries used standard behavior logic (which did get rewritten and improved by Players, and later was published by the game company to all Players as a general "Server Mod" ). In that game you built a World 'map' (including Solo game campaigns) and could publish it, so other Players would download and run it on their own Servers (with required 'installs' of any matching/required 'Mod Libraries' required to be existing on each Player's Client/Server machines). And there was a way to find the IP address of such Player-run Servers (many found on a simple company forum and game listing app site), and add them to a Connection list to allow the player's Client to login and run on that Multi Player Server). '''This All Happened 15+ Years Ago. So how is this different from the idea I have for Player Created Missions on this BioShock MMORPG ? * Company run Servers for the BioShock MMORPG (a paid service - that's their reason for it). * Actual company support to improve/fix/patch the game mechanisms on a more substantial scale. * Lots more props (added to significantly more by the Players). * More fluid/flexible 'terrain' creation. * Alot of attribute/environment based behaviors for the NPCs (much more capable). * Far better Player-done Behavior scripting and programming of AI logic. * Tools Tools Tools and more Tools * Interface Plugins (to make add-ons improvements more flexible) * Online Community as an integral part of the system (to try to flatten the developers learning curve). * Helper 'Team' NPCs (more options in a world where much of the time you really cannot do group play consistently) --- --- --- Stealth Is : Stealth Action Game Type - some MMORPG Mission scenarios - If you don't like them, go in guns blazing (and see what happens), or just skip and find another path. The Mission-Giver probably will give you a clue its this type of Mission (and difficulty/specialization) so you can make a decision early to take it (you can't have 45 'missions' stacked up like you do in most MMORPG - and THOSE having no time limit). * Scout out some area for the City, Survey some location just to see the extent of damage or useful paths or Faction activity. * Move unobtrusively into the area, observe, get out without any problems (for 'RCI' - Rapture Central Intelligence). * Rescue someone from 'their folly' out in The Ruins (dealing with Factions who don't like intruders who do stupid things). * Contacts with 'operatives' already embedded ... * Most dangerous is going up to 'the Surface' to run a 'Interference Play' on various world wankers who would very much like to get their hands on Rapture and its Secrets. * Contacts with Ryan Organization on the Surface to fetch yet more of 'something' for some emergency. * Nullification of one 'Leader', who is causing way too much trouble and endangering New Rapture (and you probably really just being 'the diversion' for the actual operation (alot of this shit can be like that). Not a situation to take the (your) usual circus parade of NPCs into. (Specialized gear and skills, 'fewer is better', and 'Need to Know' is just one of those things ...) NPCs (some anyway) might scout an approach to "whatever" (as the Mission lead in), and stage the further surveillance for YOU. Secret Recognition Password is "Sinclair Suppositories" (Try to work THAT into a light conversation.) --- --- --- Yet More Quest/Mission Ideas : One of the problems with MMORPGs is that you pretty much do EXACTLY the same 'Quests' that many thousands or even millions of other Players have already done or will do. And *THIS* MMORPG is to have alot more 'World Changing', which means the results of the Player's actions change the World, and are accumulative with other players' (and even NPCs). So finding Quest mechanisms which allow that, and also try to make it less obvious there are other Players doing (nearly) the same quest at the same time is the goal. * Of course, simply having a huge number of Quests/Missions helps spread out the Players. * Varying props, enabling tools, timelimits, NPCs involved, sequence order of sub-scenes can mutate them. * Random/changeable location of Quest-giver, communication method, Quest verbage used. * Random destinations of Quests (including using the 'bubble instance' mechanism to create temporary locations) * Sufficient optional details of Quest substeps/goals that do different things (combinatorics is your friend) * Varying outcomes of success/failure/partial success/reattempts. * Quest details that can vary depending on Players abilities/skills/history. * It should be nearly impossible to 'write up a walkthru' on the internet for a quest because it varies so much each time it is run (lets see if Infinite employs even an iota of this idea). * Re-occurring repairs/tasks (things periodicly break at various/multitude of locations) are good for 'justified' repeatable quests. * Quests that absorb resources - some are 'renewable' (it 'grows back' eventually from many locations preferably), others there are new sources further out (ie- repairing the Huge city will always have more to do...). * Changeable generic location used - quest sub-scene can be 'set up' at ordinary location (sometimes just a NPC standing there on a street corner...) * Maze terrain that player goes thru to reach 'the scene' and really cant trace path back afterwards * HUGE terrain that can actually be created 'on-the-fly' (seed generation) that takes a player somewhere noone has ever gone before and the player could return to later to see the same content (and results of their actions). The city is extensible (as are the tunnels underneath it) and the Sea outside is virtually endless. * Progressive expansion of City allows 'building' permanent results (world changes) and other players doing that quest operate on similar locations 'further out' as the city/territory expands. * Stepwise cumulative quests that have subsequent players 'add-on' their contribution, and if it ever gets finished, 'progressive expansion' can move it to the next site 'further out'. NEW construction can also be made (the map is VERY big so plenty of open space. * Limiting the number of players on a server (having multiple 'Worlds') will prevent 'burning thru finite resources' ridiculously fast (faster than a plausible 'regeneration' mechanisms can adjust). No activating a 'deed' to place a pre-canned house in THIS game. --- --- Assist in Repairing a New Rapture Metro Station (Example of 'Stepwise Cumulative' and 'Progressive Expansion') : Since many of the parallel transportation systems are not functioning (AE, Trolleys, Submarines) restoring a Bathysphere link would be an important step in expanding the City. In some situation its THOSE other transports that are the easier to fix, but for some locations its the Bathysphere route (it travels largely thru open water which is harder to block with debris/destroyed buildings and structures). * There are dozens of different parts of machinery/mechanisms/systems that have to operate to make one of the Bathysphere stations work (and that's actually a PAIR of stations for each route -- since the station on the other end has to work also). * The player would be given a task to complete - to do things like find/fetch/make a missing part, to install/repair a machine, to cleanout and unfoul a system, and numerous other jobs. Once that was completed more repairs could procede. * Many players would have to contribute to make progress and since Metro Stations usually operated more than one route, even after one route was 'fixed' there were additional routes to repair at THAT station. And after THAT station was fully functional (except maybe for 'extras' like automatics) then there are plenty of OTHER Metro stations that need fixing. * So this kind of multi/group quest/mission set allows players to 'change the World', and actually see and be part of progress for the City's restoration, It provides constant "Player does it if they feel like it" game 'missions' available to large numbers of players. * Things break periodicly so the skills a player develops could be later called upon to restore operation for a Metro route --- by another random 'repair' type mission. * Assisting the City Rebuilding earns the player 'prestige points' which open up other possibilities. --- --- --- Mission Idea 'Propagandizing' for New Rapture : Player is sent out into the 'Wild'/'Ruins' to place pro-New-Rapture propaganda - posters along with special graffiti and to set up local repeaters for Radio-Free-Rapture, which would spread the New Rapturian message of the cure and rebuilding and cooperation. Many Factions dont like this 'interference' and may take actions against the mission (besides destroying the message). More challenging versions of this ongoing project are to place similar propaganda in newly explored (and dangerous/hard to get to locations). An interesting phenomenon was some Factions indirectly delivered Splicers who were real headcases (imagine how bad that must be considering the 'normal' Splicer Community) to get rid of the ones disrupting their own agendas --- not so unlikely when the City was giving substantial rewards for them. So in that way, New Rapture was indirectly stabalizing the rest of the City - changing the environment to be easier to get many of those Factions to eventually join or at least trade with the New City. --- --- --- Sea Serpent Rumor Quest (Gets Player out in Ocean in Diving Suit or Submarine) : ''' And it turns out to be : * Old man Jenkins trying to scare the kids away from his melon patch ... * A large wild pig hiding in a cave ... * The wreck of an old plane in tatters that emits the strange noise as the currents vibrate its metal frame ... * A Macy's Thanksgiving day float that was lost in the dim past. * Splicers pulling a joke on other Splicers. * All the result of some very bad booze someone brewed up. * A fake monster employed (long ago) in an attempt to drum up submarine tourist business. * The Kraaken !!! (which is all of 6 feet long in actuality) --- --- --- '''Quest - The Grail -- the Fountain of Youth Plasmid : * Suchong had already worked on numerous Tonics/Plasmids to restore/renew the human body, but was looking for a unified restorative that would not take large combination of Plasmids to have such an effect (avoiding the corresponding major genetic scrambling and damage that results). * This was also part of the priority research (ordered by Ryan) for Plasmids which had minimal negative effects and a Plasmid that would instead repair genetic damage. * Unfortunately Suchong did not live long enough to find either one (that altercation with the enraged Big Daddy). * New Rapture continues research looking for such an answer which would be far simpler than the existing 'Cure' process. Unfortunately there were very few genetic specialists in Rapture to begin with and fewer who survived the Collapse. * The City is constantly sending out expeditions in search of research materials from the various genetics labs and even homes of the scientists and technicians. The 'reorganizations' done by various factions and general scavenging have cause much such materials to be dispersed. --- --- --- 'City Propaganda Campaign to convince Splicers to be Cured (and to get Non-Splicers to Liberate themselves - to join the City) ': * Postings of messages and signs in known Splicer habitations: ** "The Cure can set you Free" ** "Why live like an Animal when you can live like a Human in New Rapture". ** "Hate your deformed face? We can fix it. Tenenbaum's marvelous CURE!!!" ** "Come to our New City to see for yourself what you are missing." ** "Be Human again. Come in from the damp wet cold" * Some system for Splicers who are convinced would need to be in place. ** Other Splicers might try to stop them, some splicers might use it as a trap. ** Use of the phones at various spots (so other splicers cant see the ones who are trying to 'defect') ** Instructions need to be made clear with safe places (avoiding trigger-happy City security) ** Another mission for the City - bringing in a defecting Splicer ** Benevolent Groups privately attempt to bring in Splicers from the Ruins (at their own risk). * Splicer 'Bosses' have spread numerous counter-propaganda to prevent losses of their 'followers' (they tear down any 'Cure' propaganda they find.) ** "The norms only want to kill you !!!" ** "The City wants Splicers for their Organs" ** "The City is selling Splicers to The Surface for use as Circus Freaks" ** "The City only wants your ADAM" ** "The City wants you as Slaves and will turn you into mindless Big Daddies (or worse)" ** "People who go into 'The Clinic' NEVER come out again!!" (playing on the fears many had of Lamb's activities) ** "Its all a trick by Lamb to get her hooks into you again !!" ** "Sander Cohen will have you !!!" ( and much more demented stuff like this) * Some of the 'Bosses' declared War on New Rapture to polarize their followers against the 'Cure' ** "Its them versus us !!" ** "They ain't even human any more." ** "We must fight these brain sucking zombies !!" * Negotiations with independent enclaves of Non-Splicers (when they are found) who the City will try to 'sell' on the advantages of rejoining their fellows and helping restore Rapture. * Voice of Rapture ... Splicers DO know how to use radios and likely listen to the entertainment radio broadcasts of New Rapture (the Splicer life can be quite boring). So having regular propaganda messages for all those unfortunates out there telling them there is hope, can be effective. * Radio and TV broadcasts (some missions for the city includes restoring the Radio links to remote locations (the cables running to building since radio waves penetrate water so poorly) and tuning radios in the ruins to the propaganda stations. Same for the (unbroken) TVs that seem to be everywhere. * The various public announcement systems can likewise be used to try to convince Splicers to join New Rapture. The 'Edge' areas of the City in particular could be used for this (as few Citizens are there to be bothered by the constant audio bombardment) and also are controlled enough to keep the hardware from being destroyed by Splicers (who dont like the message). * Splicer run Radio stations - AM broadcasting isn't that complicated and there was more than enough equipment lying around. Some of the content can be quite bizarre and delusional. Fake Splicer stations with subtle propaganda inserted has been done a few times. --- --- --- --- --- . .